Cooking with Elsie

Oatmeal, Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

Do you have anything planned for the weekend? Are you taking advantage of the warmer weather and the lighter nights and going out somewhere exciting? Or are you having one of those lovely indulgent weekends, house knitwear, long woollen socks, pile of newspapers, endless cups of tea? In my opinion, they’re the best kind but such a weekend requires the kind of food that you can curl up in a ball with. I think a cookie might be the ultimate curl in a ball kind of food. The crumbs might get everywhere but that’s a concern for after the weekend. A cookie is also an excellent friend to a cup of tea or cup of coffee, either of which is a super important part of the indulgent weekend.

So here I have a cookie recipe for you and I can verify that it’s brilliant because I ate 100s of them on Saturday and Sunday and I can provide excellent references that it suits the kind of weekend when you just want to laze about because that’s exactly what I did. I smeared my face black with newspaper ink and I wore long woollen socks and I laughed in the face of the rain outside the window. Occasionally I was driven to conversations with the cat, such things I think can be a side effect of lolling about on ones own. You can use the above hazelnut and chocolate scenario, you could add walnuts or macadamias or peanuts, you could add dried fruit (if you really want!), coconut, cherries.. The fundamental part is having them close at hand ready for your Dawson’s Creek back to back marathon.

See below for an indulgent weekend:

This is the kind of manic look that someone gets in their eyes (see top left) when they’re contemplating stealing all of the cookies.

You could also make extra, all though this recipe does make a huge amount, and wrap up the remaining ball of dough in greaseproof and pop them in a kilner jar, then give them to whoever is kindly hosting you/seeing you over the weekend. Is there a better present than the potential for hot cookie?

I want to do a little experiment though, if you help me, you can have this cookie recipe, doesn’t that seem like a fair deal? I would like to know who pops by, who settles in for a read, where you’ve come from, where you’re going. I would be really grateful if you read this, if you would leave a comment below. You don’t have to include your real name, call yourself Buster or Moonshine (actually I think I just found the names of my future children). I would especially like to know if you’ve made them, if you liked them, if you think I’m an idiot for putting eggs in a cookie. I’d like to know if you have a cookie recipe and you think it beats mine hands down. I don’t mind what you say, even just a ‘I passed by, hi..’ but I’d like to see how many people read these and whether I’m just talking to my friend, Rachel, and my Mum. (Hi Mum) If you happen upon this recipe in 5 years time, a comment would still be appreciated. I seem to have lots of readers from all over the world but I don’t know anyone’s name or who they are. I’d like to. Let’s open this up!

So now you can have the cookie recipe and it’s worth it…

Oatmeal, Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

makes about 24 cookies

250g unsalted butter, softened

150g granulated sugar

220g brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

300g cups old fashioned oats

120g coarsely chopped hazelnuts

120g dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

If you have a freestanding mixer, this is really easy. If not, I’d advise using an electric whisk, especially for the creaming of the butter and sugar.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes and until it’s soft and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating until the mixture is incorporated, add the vanilla extract.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl. Beat until mixed but don’t feel that it has to be perfect.

Tip in your oats, nuts and chocolate and mix together with a spoon.

At this point, you can stand and eat a mountain of the cookie dough from the mixing bowl, as I did, or you could pop tablespoons of dough balls, at a good distance, on a baking sheet.

Bake these in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes.

Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

At this point, you can wrap the dough in greaseproof and freeze for up to two months or give to someone in a kilner jar.